CdV P076 Príncipe and African electro special

The nucleus of the Príncipe label may be in Lisbon, but the music they release is perhaps best described as “community music”. In this sense, community means not only the global electronic music network and club scene, but the shared local geography of a post-colonial city ravaged by crisis and the widely dispersed roots of its citizens that tap deeply into African music, particularly Angolan Kuduro as well as other sounds. That is to say that the music of Príncipe defies easy categorisation, being at once familiar, sharing some aspects of dubstep and house, but being also unrecognisable as it incorporates unheard of arrangements, tempos and polyrhythmic drumming into the mix. This week on Cabeza de Vaca we start to unravel the Príncipe sound while also searching out other new tracks that take their influence from African electronica.